Ashe was New Milford's troubadour

Susan Tuz

Published 12:52 pm, Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Known by many as the troubadour of New Milford, Shrdlu Ashe is shown in 2008 entertaining weary runners as they climb Canterbury Hill during the New Milford 8-mile road race.
Photo: Norm Cummings

Known by many as the troubadour of New Milford, Shrdlu Ashe is...

Shrdlu Ashe, a longtime New Milford resident, died March 27, 2013 at age 65 in Vietnam.
Courtesy of the Ashe family
Photo: Contributed Photo

Shrdlu Ashe, a longtime New Milford resident, died March 27, 2013...

Known by many as the troubadour of New Milford, Shrdlu Ashe is shown in 2008 entertaining weary runners as they climb Canterbury Hill during the New Milford 8-mile road race.
Photo: Norm Cummings

Known by many as the troubadour of New Milford, Shrdlu Ashe is...

Known by many as the troubadour of New Milford, Shrdlu Ashe is shown here in an undated photo entertaining weary runners as they climb Canterbury Hill during the New Milford 8-mile road race.
Courtesy of Gary Scribner
Photo: Contributed Photo

Shrdlu Ashe was a man who chose his own name, his own way of life and, in the end, his own country.

Born Michael Ashe on Aug. 29, 1947 in Norwalk, he grew up from age 9 in New Milford, changing his name to Shrdlu in 1975.

Ashe died March 27 in his adopted country of Vietnam. His life was celebrated in a Buddhist funeral ceremony and he was buried in his Vietnamese wife Chi's family plot outside of Ho Chi Minh City.

His son, Elliott, 26, was with him at his death.

"It think it's fitting that he fell in love with Vietnam," said Ashe's former wife of 18 years, Elliott's mother, Melissa Merkling. "He was suited to the Asian Buddhist philosophy of what is, is, and taking life as it comes.

"He always did what he wanted to do in life, even though it was counter-cultural," Merkling added. "He loved bringing people together."

"Shrdlu was a living legend in the New Milford area for decades," Cummings said. "He was a bright, creative person and multi-talented musician who performed thousands of times over the course of his successful career."

"He was one of those rare people who lived his life's dream and truly marched to the beat of his own drummer," he added..

Ashe had been born into a family of artists.

His father, Edmund Ashe Jr., was a freelance commercial artist known locally for his cartoon page, "The Ashe Can," which was featured in The New Milford Times for more than a decade.

Shrdlu's grandfather, Edmund Ashe Sr., was a founder in 1922 of New Canaan's Silvermine Guild of Artists.

"Mike had the artist's streak that ran in our family," said his brother, Edmund Ashe III. "I remember the piano that was in our house in New Milford when we moved into it in 1956. Mike would sit at it and try to play it."

Shrdlu Ashe wrote of himself on his web page: "The artistic gene expressed itself as a fascination with music, which has guided my entire life."

He studied chromatic harmonica at the Manhattan School of Music with world-renowned virtuoso Robert Bonfiglio. He played with and had several bands over the years, including New York Chalk, Brother Jump, the K-Man Band and the Shrdlu Band.

Ashe served in the United States Army in Vietnam in 1967-68 as a truck mechanic. He returned to Vietnam in 2009 on a trip with his son, who was working in Asia.

On that first trip back, Ashe "became fascinated with Asian instruments," longtime friend Mark Sichel said. Ashe was actively playing with musicians in Vietnam in his final years.

Sichel recalled Saturday how "Shrdlu had a view both global and local. He was very connected for so long to New Milford; we would walk on Bank Street and he would know seemingly everyone who passed by, both young and old."